[UseHerName]

This is more a curiosity post & I fully expect it to just boil down to me as a driver and for anyone who answers the next question to answer with no but -

do you need to rev the hell out of your TDCI from a standstill / do you have issues with stalling? For the record mine is a 2006 ST TDCI.

Reason I ask this is I've owned the car since August 2020. I've been driving since 2003. In any 12 month period of this Mondeo ownership I've stalled the car way more times than I'd say I've stalled all my other cars put together.

"but diesels drive different". Ahh, let me tell you what I'm comparing it to then...

So I'm not for a second making out like I've driven more vehicles than anyone else here, far from it. Nor am I making out like I'm some super driver, again far from it. Since driving I've owned...

• 1993 Citroen AX 1.1 Echo on the manual choke :-/ ... about 9 months
• 1993 Citroen ZX 1.9D Avantage ....... and these 2 entries are why I'll never own another Citroen! .... 2 years ish
• 1996 Ford Escort 1.6 LX ... maybe 2years or so. Maybe more.
• 1999 Ford Escort 1.8 TDDI ... 18 months or so at a guess.
• 2001 Vauxhall Astr 1.8 SRi .... 12 years. Superb faultless car.

And now the Mondeo.

In and amongst all that I've driven other cars.
MK4 Golf GT TDI 130 and the MK5 140
Golf R32 MK5
Focus ST MK2
Mini Cooper S 04 plate ... clutch on that one was a bugger but it'd been changed from standard apparently.

And for more diesel experience I've driven Ford Transit vans, Iveco vans on the road.
I've also driven around a builders yard 7.5ton DAFs, Iveco's. 18ton tipper wagons, crane wagons, DAFs, Ivecos up to 44ton artics, DAFs again, Iveco's again and a Volvo, with trailer and just the tractor unit.

And never really had any bother with any of them. The occasional stall when I'd get my foot stuck or whatever but overall nothing to even raise a question.

This Mondeo is something else though. I've stalled it so many times it's getting a bit silly. I have to make sure I put plenty of revs on else it'll stall. Other vehicles I've mentioned I can just let the clutch out, don't even really need to rev & it'll just roll away, no problem.

Likewise crawling. Other cars I can crawl in a low gear, no foot on any pedal & it's fine. I can be in 1st gear or even too high a gear and it wont stall. If I'm in too high a gear & come to put my foot down sure it'll struggle but it'll get there in the end (other cars). If I crawl in the Mondeo it starts acting like a cat trying to be sick, juddering like crazy.

Just found it strange that it acts so different to every other vehicle I've experienced, enough for me to ask the question if others experience it or why this may be the case with mine.

 

[Deano titanium]

I've had a 2L tdci and I still have a 2.2 st . The 2L was easy to stall . I dont think I've stalled the 2.2 yet in the year I've owned it

 

[Mondygeek]

I had the 2l tdci stalled it once right after a new clutch then never again for 5 years

 

[PURPLE_2L_LX]

Its not like old fashioned diesels that had 90% of their torque at idle and were virtually impossible to stall.

Its more like a petrol car and needs a little rev when pulling away. Not a lot but some. Higher gearing
partially to blame. Old diesels were not geared for 130mph+.

Drive mine like a petrol car but without the need to go past 4000rpm. Usually 3500rpm max. Lower revs
in too high a gear actually uses more fuel..

Tested my 2L MK3 many times ove the same stretch of road, 40mph in 4th gear uses less fuel than
40mph in 5th gear. When towing 5th gear was more economical at 60mph than 6th gear.

 

[ST56]

Hi

I stalled my MK3 ST TDCi a few times when I first owned car. Not on initial takeoff like you but by trying to go to slow in an high gear. Diesel engine seems to just stop dead if dragged down to too low an rpm. Petrol engines usually just stutter then pull away rather than stall.

Peter

 

[UseHerName]

Its more like a petrol car and needs a little rev when pulling away. Not a lot but some. Higher gearing
partially to blame. Old diesels were not geared for 130mph+.

Drive mine like a petrol car

Wish I had the same experience.

Obviously, after owning my last car for 12 years I jump in the Mondeo & drive it like the Astra, which was a 1.8 petrol. I was stalling it for fun.

With every car I've had, I could just let the clutch out, not even bother with the accelerator, have it in 1st gear & it'll pull away (by that I mean move, not zip at speed).

The Mondeo doesn't seem to like that. You need to stick revs on else it'll cough & splutter & die. Also find the clutch to be much more 'springy' than any other car I've owned if that makes sense.

 

[Mondygeek]

Have you checked all wheels to make sure you don't have a brake binding?

 

[twincarbs]

My two penneth FWIW. I think I only stalled my 2.2 TDCi a couple of times when pulling away in the 5+ years I owned it, and only due to my own incompetence or carelessness. I would always use a bit of gas when pulling away. My ST220 is very susceptible to stalling when manoeuvring. I think there is something "not quite right" about it in this respect, although I've got used to it now. It still needs a bit of gas when pulling away.

With both these cars (and any others I've owned), I would only ever use the clutch on its own to hold on a hill when pulling away (moving right foot from brake to gas quickly), to avoid repeated use of the handbrake. On the flat I can usually make any car creep forward/backward with just the clutch, if very careful - even the ST220!

 

[UseHerName]

Have you checked all wheels to make sure you don't have a brake binding?

Funny you mention this. To take it off topic a little, I am having some kind of bother with the car.

There's a roundabout near here that as I approach it I'll basically be coming off at 3o'clock. As I'm turning around what will be say 9o'clock towards 12o'clock SOME times it's like the front end just locks up & grinds.

At first I wondered if I was imagining it but then it was pretty clear. When it happens bad, it feels like the car is actually being held back.
Though it doesn't always do it. Some times I can take this turn & it's perfectly fine.

I wondered if it was maybe a patch that was causing it - yet it doesn't do this with my wifes car.

Had it at the garage to check the whole area. Was thinking wheel bearings. Mechanic did do wheel bearing - but said it was one of the rears that needed doing, not the fronts. Still did this whole thing on the roundabout after the job though.

To make it more puzzling, it only ever does it on that roundabout & that bit of roundabout. I've had it on the car park at my gym & just chucked it on a constant right hand turn - nothing.

The roundabout isn't totally flat. The road would be nose end heavy if you will at the point that it's doing this.

It's consistent in that it's always that roundabout & that section of it, but it's not consistent in that some days it does it, others it doesn't & it doesn't matter whether I go slow or fast, turn gradual or sharp.

 

[Mondygeek]

Seems bizarre doesn't it.
Whilst on a flat put in neutral and let handbrake off and see if it's easy to rock forward and backward (from the drivers door) obviously of you need to grab the brake quick. You'll be able to tell if there's any resistance from a brake/bearing